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5Faith

“Hence, it has been termed by many that faith, pure faith, accepts or rejects without basis of reason, beyond the ken and scope of that which is perceived through—that which man brings to his activity through—the five senses.”

Too often our tendency is to look to the rational, analytical mind when we must decide whether or not we have faith in something. Frequently, the many reasons offered by the intellect lead us to either (1) a rational paradox, or (2) all the right reasons why we should have faith, yet still a feeling of emptiness or doubt. Faith is more an experience of the heart than of the head (notice that the affirmation for the Search for God chapter on Faith has two references to the heart).

All of this is not to say that the rational mind has no constructive function. However, we must understand that this activity of the mind has distinct limitations and serves to focus our attention on the dimensions of time and space. That which is beyond time and space is reached more effectively through the intuitive aspect of the mind. Whereas the intellect divides, categorizes and depends largely upon information from the five senses, the intuitive mind integrates the experiencer and the focus of his attention. With the rational mind we can determine a definition of faith and many reasons why it is advisable for us to have faith; with the intuitive mind we can experience the inner meaning of faith.

The more and more each is impelled by that which is intuitive, or the relying upon the soul force within, the greater, the farther, the deeper, the broader, the more constructive may be the result.

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Also in the mental, keep the faith. Hold fast to that; and know it is a growing thing. Then in the changes that come in the environments, in associations, let that faith in the divine in self ever respond to that known innately within self.

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Experiment: Choose one thing in which you wish to experience greater faith (e.g., faith in God, faith in your own divine nature, faith in another specific person). First consider where your rational, intellectual mind has taken you in this desire. Perhaps you will find that this part of the mind has led you to a paradox or confusion; perhaps you will find that it has provided all the right answers and yet an inner experience of faith is missing. Write down whatever it is your intellect tells you about this concern. Now allow yourself to move beyond just the intellect. Each day for a week be open for an experience of faith in this part of your life. Pray that you will be given whatever experience is best for you at this time. Listen to the promptings of your intuitive mind through your meditations, through your dreams, and by listening to and feeling your intuitive self in your daily activities. Record any of your experiences that may give you a deeper sense of what it means to live your faith in this specific area of your life.

“Faith knows that it has already received and acts accordingly doubting nothing.”

One of the most challenging teachings of Jesus is found in the fourteenth chapter of John:

“Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

It challenges us because it requires that we decide what it means to “ask in My name.” We might assume that it is more than just literally saying the word “Jesus,” although that may well be very important. One focus of His teachings is that God is spirit and must be worshiped in spirit and in truth. And so, to ask in His name probably requires that the spirit of our prayer be in accord with the spirit He came to manifest. Certainly, important qualities of that spirit are faith in God and faith in our own divine nature.

There is a simplistic answer to why our asking means we have already received: the creative capacity of the mind. However, simply asserting that “mind is the builder” does not mean we will have faith. The intellectual mind which has studied spiritual law is quick to point out that thoughts are things. This aspect of the mind reasons that (1) our asking and desiring actually creates, and (2) it is only a matter of waiting for it to manifest. Yet, such reasoning does not insure that we will be patient. Patience is more than just waiting. Just as faith, patience is knowing and experiencing. Faith knows that it has already received because it is truly patient and experiences that all time is one time. Our faith is stymied when we believe that we, like our physical bodies, are mortal. As souls we are timeless beings. It is in experiencing this awareness (not in rationalizing that the mind is the builder) that faith knows that it has already received and is able to act accordingly. It is in this spirit that we ask “in His name.”

Experiment: As a step towards a deeper awareness of faith, try to awaken the consciousness that you are a timeless being—that all which you desire in spiritual unfoldment and fulfillment will come to you. If you have asked for something in His name and then find yourself doubting or impatient, use this affirmation in your daily life to re-orient your mind to faith: “As a spiritual being, I am forever. All I have asked in His name will be fulfilled.” Record the situations in which you are able to use this affirmation in a helpful way.

“Let us examine ourselves and see whether we are holding to faith or confidence.”

One of the most popular forms of therapy today is assertiveness training. This work undoubtedly has been of great help to many people, giving them new insights and new capacities to express a sense of confidence in themselves. And yet we must be careful not to equate confidence with faith. Confidence rests upon things that exist in time and space—it points either to the physical self or to the material world. Faith rests upon an awareness of that which is beyond time and space—to the qualities of the soul. To illustrate this in a diagram:

We are encouraged to cultivate faith, and so we must consider what to do with our tendencies to feel confidence instead of faith. Are they opposites? No more than the spirit is the opposite of the body; and the teaching in the readings is the oneness of body, mind and spirit.

We can use an experience that gives us confidence (e.g., an specially good achievement, a substantial source of material supply) as a stepping-stone to a deeper sense of faith, if we remember that the material world and the physical, conscious self are rooted in the unseen spiritual world. This is what Jesus points out to Pilate who asserted confidence in his powerful position of authority.

“Pilate therefore said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.’” (John 19:10-11)

We must see that the situations and conditions that give us confidence are only symbols. God is the source of all that is good. As we remember to recognize this and give thanks, we use those moments of feeling confidence in ourselves or the world as a tool to feel greater faith.

Experiment: Be aware of instances each day in which you feel a sense of confidence (either in some quality of your own, in some condition in the material world, or in some other person). Don’t deny the good feeling that may come with such a sense of confidence; instead, build upon it by affirming the source of this which is good in you or your life. Record each day those situations in which you are able to make this recognition.

“Let us have more faith in our fellow man. We may not agree with him, but who knows whether he is not more in line with the divine plan than if he were following our lead?”

One of the most difficult steps in achieving maturity is to realize that other people don’t always think the way we do. A large degree of our frustration and irritation with others comes from the fact that they are not operating from our consciousness or from our assumptions about what is best. Intellectually we may know that every personality is different, yet our feelings and emotions are not convinced so easily. A person who is working hard to understand and apply spiritual laws is often especially vulnerable to such frustrations with others simply because he is trying to discover the absolute truths of right living.

These individual ways of seeing life are, of course, based upon the fact that each soul brings into an incarnation a unique collection of experiences and needs. In faith we are actually able to experience the other person as a soul and recognize that his pathway in the earth may be different from ours. With this recognition, which is rooted in faith, we are able to see the special contribution which we can make to his chosen direction. This is a deeper kind of love than one that tries to force on another a particular perspective of life that we personally find best. The Buddha’s final teaching was that each individual should seek diligently his own salvation. We are channels of blessings to others as we respect their pathways and their ways of seeing life, even though we may choose not to agree.

Experiment: Choose and write down the name of one person with whom you frequently feel frustrated or irritated because you don’t think that he behaves or believes in a way that would be best for his own growth. Each day for a week replace such thoughts and feelings of frustration or irritation with an affirmation that divine forces are active in that person’s life, God does care about that person, and He will guide him in the experiences which he needs. Make a record of situations in which you are able to experience this kind of faith in another person.

“Faith is a bridge that spans the gulf from the seen to the unseen.”

How can we experience spanning that gulf between the physical consciousness and the consciousness of the soul? No experience of this nature is offered to us more frequently than those in our dreams. Through dreams we can come to know ourselves as eternal spirit—a knowledge that characterizes faith. We find this promise not only in the readings, but in parallel sources such as the writings of Carl Jung.

[Dreams are] a natural experience! It’s not an unnatural! Don’t seek for natural or supernatural! It is the natural—it is nature—it is God’s activity! His associations with man, His desire to make for man a way for an understanding!

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“The dream is the little hidden door in the innermost and most secret recesses of the soul … All consciousness separates; but in dreams we put on the likeness of that more universal, truer, more eternal man …”

(Jung, Collected Works. Vol. 10, pp. 144-45)

Jung goes on to suggest that through dreams we can not only recall a truer sense of our being but also find an inner self that offers profound wisdom. That inner self frequently presents a new perspective that can lead us out of a state of confusion or unbelief.

“And in each of us there is another whom we do not know. He speaks to us in dreams and tells us how differently he sees us from the way we see ourselves. When, therefore, we find ourselves in a difficult situation to which there is no solution, he can sometimes kindle a light that radically alters our attitude—the very attitude that led us into the difficult situation.”

(Jung, Collected Works, Vol. 10, p. 153)

Experiment: Select a situation in your life in which you feel a need for greater faith to bridge the gulf between your conscious perspective and a deeper, more insightful awareness. Pray at night before retiring that you will have dream experiences which will strengthen your faith in this part of your life and lead to healing of any difficulty. Keep a careful record of any dreams you feel may come in response to this effort.

“We must show by our actions in our daily lives that we believe, that we have faith, and that we know as we use that we have, more will be given.”

One of the challenges of faith is to accept the circumstances that are given in any moment and trust that they are what is needed for growth—that what is required each day is provided. We find this principle in the story of the Israelites in the wilderness. The manna that was needed for each day was given; however, if their faith broke down, and out of a sense of fear they tried to collect more than was necessary, the food spoiled (Exodus 16:11-31).

One interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer points to the same concept. As we say “Give us this day our daily bread,” we are asking that only that amount of creative energy be awakened from within which we can use in a constructive way this day.

That which we have right now (be it the degree of our physical health, the amount of money we have in the bank, the number of friends we have, etc.) is a condition our own soul has created, uniquely tailored to fit our needs for growth in awareness. Any movement in consciousness can take place only from where we are, and so we are required to make the most constructive use we can of what we have. Once we have grown in awareness under those circumstances, we are free to accept new ones.

Experiment: Select and write down an aspect of your life in the material world in which you find yourself desiring an increase (e.g., more free time, more friends, more appreciation from others). Then consider the current conditions and write down the ways in which you are challenged to grow by those conditions.

Example:

desire:	more appreciation from others
challenges:	(1) to know within myself the things that I’m doing that are worthwhile(2) to do things out of love and not for praise from others

Each day for the next week work with meeting the challenges offered by the current conditions. Record experiences in which you were able to accept and grow with what you have right now.

“Do we know in whom we believe? If so, then the ideal or standard toward which we move becomes the basis for the activity of faith in constant action from the mental, imaginative and spiritual forces.”

An important feature of the Search for God material is the fact that it forms a growth sequence. The concepts from one chapter build upon the concepts from previous ones. In this passage from the text we find a statement that links the experience of faith to the topic of the previous chapter: ideals. The hypothesis set forth is that faith (which is a knowing and experiencing of the reality of the unseen) is awakened by the activity of an ideal that has been set. Three forms of activity are mentioned: the mental, the imaginative and the spiritual. These three forms are also named as activities that are set in motion as we choose an ideal.

As we find, there has been then, in this respect, rather the lack of setting an ideal to which that that is within self may be offered as a tribute, that may offer or find in the abilities of self a means of expression—see? for with an ideal, and not just an idea, there is the constant action from the mental, the imaginative, and the spiritual forces of an entity, to express or bring into manifestation that as would be a contribution to, a credit to, an active force of showing or manifesting, or bringing to light that as is viewed by self of that as is held as one’s ideal.

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To experiment with this passage we can combine exercises that we have already practiced in earlier sections of this book. A useful activity for the mind is to write and apply an affirmation in daily life. The words of the affirmation should awaken a sense of our ideals for a particular aspect of life and also awaken an experience of faith. Using the imaginative forces we can set aside a brief period of time each day (separate from our daily meditation period) to consider our ideals for that aspect of life and imagine specific ways in which we could be applying them. This is not an analytical activity, but a relaxed reverie period in which we allow images to arise from the mind that are in accord with the mental and physical ideals we have set. Finally, we can experience a deeper sense of faith in a specific part of our lives by attuning ourselves through meditation and by expressing our desire for greater faith through prayer.

Experiment: Select an area of your life in which you wish to experience greater faith. If you have not already set ideals for that part of your life, be sure to do this before continuing with the experiment. Write an affirmation for your mind to use in daily life. This affirmation should express the nature of your ideals and be used whenever necessary each day to awaken the experience of faith. Each day have a period of reverie and imagination concerning the application of these ideals. Also be sure to have a daily prayer and meditation period. This is a specific threefold experiment from the readings that links our understanding of ideals to our experience of faith. Record any meaningful experiences that arise from the application of this approach.